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He may be quirky but he’s loyal, now having outlasted a husband and a coupla boyfriends! ~Nancy J. Bailey

This quote references once of the greatest horses you could hope to meet, Clifford of Drummond Island. Nancy Bailey is an award winning author and animal artist who has graciously given me a green light to feature her and her amazing animals on my blog.

This also being International Art Holiday ~ August 14th, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate it than to feature two dedicated artists – one human and one animal who live and love together!

Last March Twitter gave me a special gift when multi-talented Nancy J. Bailey (find her on twitter – @cliffysmom) landed in my ‘follower’s stream’. Nancy’s playful personality and humor is contagious and I immediately began to look forward to her tweets. It was not long before I was wishing I lived nearer to Michigan so I could have coffee with her once in awhile.

I also fell hard for her quirky loyal Morgan horse, Clifford of Drummond Island, affectionately known as Cliffy. Having grown up with a special quirky horse of my own, I immediately began to re-discover the joys and special connections such a magnificent creature can share with humans. Time had found a way to blot out much of the intimacy of my beloved horse, TrailBoy. Nancy and Cliffy returned all those pleasures to me!

Being so multi-talented can shatter a persons focus and makes it more difficult to succeed. When I asked Nancy how she channels her diversity she immediately replied, “Follow your heart! An ultimate creative day is when an accident results in something I like!”

This video demonstrates playful Clifford’s bond with Nancy and the dogs, and like his human mom, Cliffy is also an artist. You bet horses can paint! His watercolors are available to purchase – a video of Cliffy hard at work painting can be viewed near the end of this post.

When Nancy Bailey first blogged about Cliffy’s quirks, people responded by asking her when the book was coming out. Savvy Bailey realized her blog posts made a strong backbone to carry forward a book about her adventures with Cliffy during visits to her family’s native Drummond Island in Northern Michigan. She crafted the rest of the book and Cliffy now warms hearts all over the world.

One of my favorite chapters describes Nancy’s dad and uncle on their knees peering into a deep hole. Not to be left out of anything, Cliffy who often roams freely with his humans and animal buds, also dropped to his knees and joined the men as they surveyed the hole! Ever being one of the guys, Cliffy even toted 2×4 timbers around the property just as the men did during a construction phase, except being armless Cliffy used his mouth to do it.

An example of one of Cliffy’s latest watercolors: cliffyspainting

Parades are part of life in small towns. Nancy and Cliffy still enjoy participating in Drummond Island’s Fourth of July festivities. Nancy shared this photo from this year’s parade:

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This is a favorite photo of mine – Clifford and his lovely reliable half sister Trudy are contemplating another beautiful day on Drummond Island:

Cliffy and Trudy

Cliffy and Trudy

Nancy's Art

Nancy J Bailey's Wonderful Animal Art

Always funny, Nancy recently quipped, “Remains to be seen whether his work is worth more than mine!”

Contact information for Nancy J. Bailey:

http://www.nancyjbailey.com

http://www.nancyjbailey.blogspot.com

email: justkeeptyping@gmail.com

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BM9VKK (Clifford of Drummond Island and Bailey’s other books are available on Amazon.com)

IMPORTANT: If you love PBS and horses, be sure to click HORSES in my category cloud (on the right) to get an update regarding the wild horse ‘Cloud’ and the immediate peril facing his horse family in Montana’s Pryor Mountains. BLM has scheduled a helicopter raid to thin his ancient Spanish herd by 50%. This is the oldest wild herd in America.

Excellent information plus contact names & numbers for helping Cloud: http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/a-plea-to-save-clouds-herd-and-all-our-wild-horses/

Ending on a positive note, I hope you enjoy Cliffys favorite dance moves: